Illidan and the Dragon Prince
by Grimm48
Summary: Illidan is the next leader of the Moonshadow elf assassins and wants Rayla to be his future wife. Worried for her safety he follows her on the assassination mission and helps the group to bring the egg back to its mother. Pairing: Illidan x Rayla (xAmaya)
1. Chapter 1

Illidan and the Dragon Prince

Summary: Illidan is the next leader of the Moonshadow elf assassins and wants Rayla to be his future wife. Worried for her safety he follows her on the assassination mission and helps the group to bring the egg back to its mother. Pairing: Illidan x Rayla (xAmaya)

Disclaimer: I don't own warcraft or the dragon prince.

* * *

It is a stormy night with heavy rainfall and a guard, armed with a crossbow is patrolling the forest around the castle of the reigning King, King Harrow. He hears a rustling coming from one of the bushes close to him and aims his crossbow in the direction and takes a defensive position, asking loudly "Who is there in the name of King Harrow reveal yourself. ". As chance would have it in that moment a flash of lighting illuminates the area and he is able to make out 6 Moonshadow elves staring at him, ready to strike.

He fires his weapon but misses the elves and takes off running, being outnumbered and if the tales of these elves were true out skilled as well. The youngest of the elves follows him by hopping from tree to tree, closing the distance between them fast. Once she caught up to him, he turns around to fire another bolt at her, but she is quicker and kicks him away, causing him to fall down the small hill they were standing on. She jumps after him and quickly discards his now drawn sword and moves to cut him down, holding her twin blades crossed under his throat but seeing the fear in his eyes along with hearing his desperate plea the young elf freezes and allows him to escape thereby giving him the opportunity to inform his people back at the castle of the elves incoming attack.

* * *

Upon hearing the news Viren, the Kings advisor and local mage rushes to inform his close friend and King the next morning. After waking his King, he informs him about the situation and explains that the Moonshadow elf assassins are most likely seeking revenge for the death of the former Dragon King who ruled over Xadia and its unborn Prince.

The King added with the knowledge that that night there will be a full moon, empowering the Moonshadow elves and making them almost invisible to humans' orders for a party of knights to attack them by day and to send his sister in law, general Amaya to their winter lodge, where she'll meet their nephews and guard them. Viren being the mage sets this up and gives his son the command and telling him how to find the Moonshadow elves by using one of the Moon related magical beings he has and setting it free, following it to where it will be drawn to, which is the location of the Moonshadow elf assassins. After Viren left to inform his son of his task and sends word to the general The King calls for his sons who arrive maybe half an hour later. Once he sees them, he tells them that they have to go to the winter lodge and tries to not sound worried but his stepson Callum catches on, being the older one but doesn't say anything as to not worry his brother.

* * *

In the meantime, the young elf, who let the guard escape makes her way back to camp and smears berry juice over her blade to mimic blood, hiding the fact that she failed from the others.

When she gets back to camp, she sees that the others have already set up their tents while their leader is meditating. Walking by him he sees her red blades and tells her "Well done Rayla." Proudly, since this is her first kill.

"Yeah, I used both of them." She says relieved that he bought the trick.

"I can see that." He replies throwing her a cloth to wipe away the blood.

After cleaning her blades, she leaves to catch her breath in her tent, unknown to them there is a seventh Moonshadow elf watching them, though his focus lies on Rayla.

"So, she had her first kill, interesting. I wonder how this will influence her, hopefully not to much. I like her how she is after all." The lone elf murmurs to himself, laying on a branch from where he can see the camp and still stay hidden. He watches his clansmen for a while until they perform a ceremony.

"Four full moons past, on the eve of the winters turn the humans crossed into Xadia and murdered the King of the dragons. Then they destroyed his only egg, the dragon prince. Tonight, we bind our lives to justice." The leader says. Everyone then swears their conviction in their own way and hold out her arms while their leader binds them all together and then cuts the connections, giving each Moonshadow elf a band around their wrists while he wears his on his upper arms.

"When it is done, I will send a blood shadowhawk with a message for the Queen of the dragons. We fight when the moon is highest." The leader announces and everyone gets back to preparing themselves.

"Uhh Runan?" Rayla asks her leader.

"What is it Ralya?" He questions.

"I was wondering, what if they know we're coming?" She asks.

"We have the advantage of surprise. If we act fast, we will accomplish our goals without sacrifice." He tells her.

* * *

Soon after while they are preparing themselves the Moth released by Soren, Viren's son finds them and they hear the galloping of horses approach their position.

"They know we're here." Runan says and crushes his necklace, throwing the dust into the wind and casting an illusion magic over their camp.

"No one's here, not surprisingly a magical moth is still a moth." Soren says once they reach the clearing, where the moth is flying around. After looking around a few moments there is a loud crash coming from deeper within the forest. "What was that? Move out, we have to check out what caused that noise." Soren orders his men, leading them away from the clearing.

Unknown to the elves Illidan, the Moonshadow elf assassin following them rushed off after seeing the moth and attacked a tree a fair distance away from the elves camp in order to distract the knights, in case the illusion wouldn't last very long. After he knocked down the tree and made sure the knights stayed away from the camp, he makes his way back to his clansmen.

"You lied to me. You let him go!" Runan says angered once the knights left, having recognized one of the knights as the one Rayla has supposedly slain.

"Runan, I'm sorry. The human, he looked up at me and I saw the fear in his eyes." Rayla tries to explain herself.

"Of course, he was afraid, but you had a job to do." Runan tells her disappointed.

"He didn't do anything to me, how could I take his life?" Rayla questions.

"You let him live, but you've killed us all!" Runan shouts angrily with everyone glaring at Rayla.

The elves get back to readying their weapons, determined to finish their mission now that they have bound themselves to it.

"Come with me." Runan orders Rayla, dropping out of a tree close to her, having checked if the knights retreated back to the castle.

Rayla looks down worried but follows her leader anyways.

* * *

Illidan arrives at the elves camp soon after Rayla and Runan left and upon not seeing Rayla with the rest he gets worried about her and reveals himself.

"So, quite the predicament you're in now huh?" Illidan says walking up to the group of four who immediately stand on guard upon hearing a stranger's voice, until they see Illidan approaching.

"Young master Illidan, why are you here?" One of the elves asks politely, greeting the next leader of the Moonshadow elves.

"Since my future wife is on this mission, I decided I'd follow you to make sure she stays safe. Where is Rayla anyways?" Illidan replies.

"Runan took her into the woods to talk and will probably remove her from the mission since she isn't ready to kill yet." Another elf says, pointing in the direction the two walked off to.

"I see." Illidan says and moves to follow them.

"Young master, may I ask why did the council want Rayla as your betrothed? Despite her skill she is of too kind character to be leading the Moonshadow assassins." The elf who first greeted him asks.

"The council had nothing to do with it. It was a request from me to arrange a marriage between us. I feel that her kinder nature will be beneficial to our clan's future and that she would be able to let me see my errors when I lose my temper." Illidan informs them before vanishing into the woods, going after Rayla and Runan.

"I thought you could do it Rayla, but I was wrong." Runan says saddened.

"You're not wrong. I can do it." Rayla disagrees.

"I know you've never taken one before, I brought you because you're talented. Maybe one of the fastest and strongest of any of us. But it takes more than that. There is an instinct, a moment of truth. And in that moment, you hesitated." Runan informs her.

"I won't hesitate again." Rayla says.

"You will. I see now that you're still just a child. Your heart isn't hard enough to do whatever it takes." Runan scolds her.

"I messed up, I know I did. Because I let that human go, we're all in danger. But that's why you have to let me make it right." Rayla pleads.

"No. It's too late for that." Runan tells her.

"I bound myself." Rayla protests.

"And you'll be unbound when the job is done. Your role now is to stay out of the way. You'll wait here now, quietly. If we're not back by sunrise, go home." Runan tells her, pointing at a large rock for her to sit on.

"You've lost the element of surprise and want to cut one of your members as well, risky move." Illidan says having caught up with them and overheard the last part of the conversation.

"Young master. You're not supposed to be here." Runan says surprised to see him.

"Yes, yes. Anyways since you're the captain of the squad it's your decision and I won't meddle in it, now if you could give us some privacy I'd like to talk to my betrothed." Illidan tells him.

"Of course." Runan says and leaves them alone.

"Betrothed, hah as if I'd ever accept the arranged marriage the council wants to force us into." Rayla says with a scoff.

"I think it's fair to let you know that the council actually had nothing to say in this. It was my desire to have them arrange a marriage between us." Illidan informs her, sitting down next to her on the stone.

"Why would you do that?" Rayla asks annoyed.

"Frankly, I like you and you're the only one of our clan who treats me like another person not some nobility because of my special powers." Illidan tells her, holding up his five fingers in comparison to her four.

"As if I'd accept you as nobility because you have that useless pinky finger and the ability to transform whenever you choose." Rayla scoffs.

"And I wouldn't want you to. And for the marriage, if you truly do not wish to be wed to me once we're of suitable age I will cancel the arrangement and there will be no repercussions to you." Illidan promises her.

"Thanks. Though I still don't quite understand why you'd want me as your wife in the first place. You've just witnessed that I'm a failure and not hard enough for this life." Rayla says dejectedly.

"Rayla it is true that you have a good and kind heart, but I don't think of this as a hindrance, in fact I'm hoping that this would allow you to be able to help me keep a clear head." Illidan tells her, taking her hands in his gently.

"I don't know, I mean we are the Moonshadow elf assassins. We're meant to assassinate people." Rayla says.

"Who says that keeping the clan as only assassins is my desire?" Illidan replies.

"Are you serious about this?" Rayla asks surprised.

"Yes. Watching you and knowing how others see me has taught me that our destinies do not have to be predetermined and that we can choose our own fate." He tells her.

"I see, choose my own fate huh? So, you think I can redeem myself even with the mistake I've made here?" Rayla asks, looking at the castle towering out of the forest.

"Yes, though I don't think this is necessarily a good idea." Illidan replies.

"I have to do this! Promise me one thing please. Don't tell the others and let me do this myself." Rayla asks of him.

"OK, I trust in you and to show you this, you have my word." Illidan agrees with a sigh after which Rayla is already running through the woods, headed for the cliff, the castle is build upon.

* * *

AN: let me know what you think.


	2. Chapter 2

After her talk with Illidan Rayla takes off through the woods, climbing the cliffs behind the castle unnoticed and enters the castle just before nightfall.

|at the castle|

Callum is browsing in the library when Claudia finds him and introduces him to magic and shows him a wind spell. After his little run in with the mage girl he's crushing on he goes to his stepfather, who gives him a letter and explains the gist of the situation at hand.

After receiving the letter Callum leaves to head back to his room and look for his missing brother, when he runs across Rayla, who's stalking through the halls intending to kill the King and Prince Ezreal, Callum's half-brother.

"You know you can't sneak up on me." Callum says expecting his brother and turns around, seeing Rayla, who takes off her hood and readies her blades.

"Uhh, you're not who I thought you were, you … you're one of those. With the pointy…" Callum stammers trying to scoot away from the girl.

"Oh you don't like my ears?" Rayla asks tauntingly.

"Oh, yes I do… I guess, I actually meant the pointy, swords." Callum replies.

"That's far enough, I'm looking for someone." She tells him pointing one of her daggers at Callum.

"Oh, uhh did you check back there?" Callum asks pointing at a curtain and pulls it down over her head before running away with Rayla hot on his tail.

Callum runs towards the wall and yells at the two guards "she's right behind me." The two men ready their weapons but Rayla leaps over them and knocks them down. Callum runs over the wall into a tower, shouting for help and stumbles into an empty room with Rayla just behind him.

"You don't have to die. There are only two targets tonight." She says kicking down the door, brandishing her daggers.

"Wait two? What do you mean?" Callum asks surprised.

"I'm here for the King and I'm also here for his don, prince Ezran.

"You can't that's not fair, why would you hurt someone who's done nothing wrong?" Callum asks her.

"Humans cut down the King of the Dragons and destroyed his only egg. The dragon prince. Justice will not be denied." Rayla tells him.

"I see, well then you've found me. I am Prince Ezran." Callum replies.

"In that case, I have to do this, I'm sorry. I don't want to but I have to." Rayla says pointing her blade at Callum and closes in on him.

"Why? You know this is wrong."

"An assassin doesn't decide right or wrong, only life or death." Rayla tells him.

"That's really clever but how does this solve anything?" Callum asks fearfully.

"This is justice, humans attacked us unprovoked." Rayla says.

"So it's OK for you to do the same thing?" Callum asks.

"Well no, it's not the same thing because we are attacking you, provoked." Rayla explains angered.

"Then it's a cycle. You hurt me and someone will take revenge against the Elves, it won't end." Callum tells her.

"Callum, Callum! I've found something." Ezran says having hidden in the hidden rooms behind a painting in the wall.

"Are you talking to that painting?" Rayla asks wearily.

"Hah, why would I do that? Cuz it's not a good time." Callum says loud enough so his brother can hear.

"You mean because you're with a girl?" Ezran asks and Rayla goes over to the giant painting, swinging it open to reveal Ezran standing there with his toadlike pet.

"Uhhh, Jelly tart?" Ezran says confused at why Rayla is wielding blades.

"Kid get out of here." Callum tells him.  
"Callum what's going on?" Ezran asks.

"Callum? I thought you were Prince Ezran. You lied to me." Rayla says pointing her blade at him again.

"OK, how is that worse than trying to kill someone?" Callum asks confused.

"Have you met bait?" Ezran asks once he ate his jelly tart and holds up his pet, which starts to shine brightly, blinding Rayla while Callum shields his eyes.

"Callum, follow me I have to show you something." Ezran says and leads his brother into the hidden passages with Rayla chasing them.

Ezran leads them to a dead end.

"We're trapped. What do we do?" Callum says and Ezran says "time for a puzzle" and startst o press some stones on the wall in an order until a staircase appears, leading a floor deeper.

Once they raced down and made the stairs retract again Callum asks his brother "You sure she won't be able to follow us?"

"No way, it took me over a month to figure out that combination." Ezran replies until suddenly the stairs come back down again.  
"How did you?" Ezran asks shocked.

"I just pressed all the stones with the jelly hand prints." Rayla tells him and walks into the room, looking around and sees various tools and animals used for black magic.

"What is this place? Runan is right. There is nothing in humans worth sparing. Time's up." Rayla says looking around disgusted.

"You'll have to go through me?" Callum says blocking his brother.

"Wait, you have to see something." Ezran tells them.

"I'm not falling for that flashing frog trick again." Rayla tells him.

"He's a glow toad. But there is no trick this time. Please look." Ezran tells her pointing at an object covered with a blanket.

"Fine, you uncover it slowly." She tells him and Ezran yanks the blanket off, revealing a blue glowing egg and tells her "I can hear something inside, it's alive.".

"It- it can't be." Rayla says gasping.

"The egg. It wasn't destroyed." Callum says stunned.

"This changes everything." Rayla says staring at the Egg with disbelieve.

"So this is it? The egg of the dragon prince?" Callum asks.

"I can't believe it, if the egg lives…" Rayla says.

"Maybe it could stop the war." Callum finishes her thoughts.

"But how, why wasn't it destroyed?" Callum asks confused.

"Because my father saved it." Claudia says walking into the room, having seen the letter Callum dropped and the jelly prints.

"Callum, Ezran get behind me. I can protect you from the elf." Claudia tells them.

"Your father didn't save it, he stole it." Rayla says challenging the other girl.

"That's a lie. My father took it to protect us so the Elves and Dragons couldn't use it." Claudia tells them.

"What are you talking about? How could we use it?" Rayla questions, her dagger pointing at Claudia.

"Don't play dumb. You know it's a powerful weapon." Claudia tells her.

"It's not a weapon, it's an egg." Rayla replies.

"Ezran, don't be afraid and walk towards me. If she even moves an inch." Claudia threatens and draws a signil for a lightning spell.

"No, it wants its mother." Ezran says and looks at Rayla for a second before telling her "follow me and leads her down a path while Claudia prepares her spell.

Callum however snatches the orb from her, causing the spell to fail. He then chains her up to a cuff hanging in the room.

"Callum what are you doing?" Claudia asks.

"The right thing, I hope." Callum says apologetically and takes off after his brother and Rayla.

Claudia stretches the chains so she can reach a table not far from her and lights a candle, sprinkling some powder on it and chants a spell, summoning two wolves made of smoke, which start to chase the three fleeing with the egg.

Callum quickly catches up to Rayla and his brother and tells them "There is something after us."

"Keep running" Rayla tells them and gets her blades to attack. Rayla swipes through the wolves a few times and gets bit once, leaving a singeing mark on her arm in the shape of a wolf bite.

"I can't stop them, they're just smoke, my swords pass right through." Rayla tells the others, while they are trapped because they ran into a dead end.

Callum remembers the spell Claudia showed him and says "There might be something I can do, but I'm not sure that I can do it." Callum tells them.

"Is this a guessing game? Just do it!" She orders and Callum uses the spell asporo to release a gust of wind, blowing the smoke wolves away.

"You never mentioned you were a mage." Rayla says surprised.

"Who me? No, I'm not really anything." Callum replies.

"You just did magic!" Ezran says excited.

"Yeah, that's what a mage is." Rayla agrees.

"Oh, really? Wow. I'm a mage!" Callum shouts excitedly.

"Pssst, nobody likes a loud mage." Rayla tells him and they continue on their way, led by Ezran.

Meanwhile the King and Viran have a falling out when Viran offers him a magic which allows his soul to be transferred into another soldiers' body and the King refuses, saying that his dark magic is what put them in this position in the first place. The King confines himself in his throne room, with guards waiting outside his room.

* * *

|Back with Rayla and the Princes|

"Listen, I need to get that Egg to the roof right now." Rayla tells them urgently.

"What why?" Ezran asks confused.

"Just trust me." Rayla tell him.

"Hey wait that makes sense, since we go way back, like that one time 10 minutes ago where you chased me through the castle trying to stab me. Good times." Callum tells her sarcastically.

"You might not realize it but any moment now others will arrive. Others like me." Rayla tells them.

"Assassins." Callum says realizing what she means.

"I need to show them the egg to stop them." Rayla tells him.

"I'll take you to the roof." Ezran says going on ahead.

Rayla is sneaking around the wall by herself with Callum and Ezran waiting for her, hidden.

"You're here. I know you are." Rayla says seemingly to no one, until her leader shows up on the wall.

"Rayla, you defied me." He says disappointed.

"Runan, you need to call off the mission." She begs him.

"You've lost your mind." He says shocked.

"Listen to me, I've found something. The egg of the dragon prince. It wasn't destroyed it was stolen. Their high mage was going to use it for magic, but the human princes found it and are trying to…" She tells him when he interrupts her "No, humans are liars. This is a trick and a trap. You're a fool Rayla."

"She's not a fool, what she's telling you is true." Callum says coming out of his hiding spot.

"You've made a terrible mistake." Runan says loading an arrow into his bow.

"Ez show him." Callum says and his brother follows him out of the hiding spot, carrying the egg in front of him.

"How can we take vengeance for an act that never happened"? Rayla asks trying to change his mind.

"Rayla you know it doesn't work that way. We bound ourselves. There is only one way to release." He tells her.

"Runan please, there has to be another way. This is a miracle, a chance for peace." Rayla begs him.

"The humans struck down the king of the Dragons, justice will not be denied, now give me the egg." Runan says. Callum, Ezran go!" Rayla tells her friends, readying her blades and stares down Runan while the clouds part, revealing the full moon and causing their bodies to darken, becoming as black as shadows.

"don't do this. I will kill you." Runan warns her, getting out his blades.

"probably." Rayla agrees and gets ready to defend herself but before either of them start their fight they look behind the walls when they hear a flapping of wings and see a large shadow appear in between them.

"What is going on here? Did I hear you right Runan, you intend to kill my betrothed?" Illidan asks, having kept an eye on the surroundings of the castle and observed their exchange. Illidan himself also transformed, now with two large horns sticking from his forehead and black wings sprouting from his back, along with talons on his fingers and hoofs on his feet.

"Master Illidan? I was only…" Runan says shocked but gets interrupted when Illidan is suddenly in front of him, holding his trademark twin blades crossed under the older man's throat.

"Rayla, leave!" Illidan says in a tone which leaves no room for objections.

"Illidan, what is the meaning of this?" Runan asks appalled that he lets her leave.

"Listen here, I will give you one chance to get out of this alive. Leave and flee or attack the King only but Rayla and the princes are off-limits as of this moment, is that understood?" Illidan tells the man, glaring down at him, having gained height during his transformation.

"Yes, my chieftan." Runan says bowing in compliance and meets up with his men to inform them of the recent development and they prepare to attack the King.

* * *

Rayla meets up with Ezran who's hiding in a bail of hay with the egg and bait and the two of them wait for Callum, who tried to tells their father about what Viram did but Viram stopped him before he can get to the King and then the elves attack and Callum is barely able to escape.

"It's up to us now. We have to return this egg. We have to keep it safe and carry it to Xadia." Callum says to his two companions.

"We could change things, we can make a difference." Rayla agrees excited.

"Just the three of us, uh four of us." Callum says correcting himself when bait croaks.

"Actually, make that five." Illidan says walking up to them, having lost his transformation.

"Illidan? What do you think you're doing?" Rayla asks surprised while the two princes take a step back in fear.

"What else? I'm accompanying my betrothed on her adventure." Illidan tells her, shooting her a smirk.  
"Stop with the betrothed stuff, and who said you can come with us?" Rayla says.  
"Oh and who would stop me? One of your little pals there? Please, just be glad I'm in no hurry and want you to gain experience otherwise I'd be flying that egg back myself, I'd only need a day Afterall." Illidan tells her cockily.

"And I'll believe that when I see it." She replies challengingly.

"One day you might. Now come on, we should hurry." Illidan says.

"So, he's with us or what is going on and what was that about betrothed?" Callum asks Rayla confused.

"Yeah, he's with us. And technically he's engaged to me but I refuse to acknowledge it." Rayla tells them and the four of them run out of the castle.

Somewhere along the way through the woods surrounding the castle one of the bands on Rayla's wrist fall off and she shares a knowing look with Illidan.

"Should we tell them?" She asks.

"It's your decision to make, treat me just as you would one of your inferior foot soldiers. I'll only take lead when I see the need to." He tells her, patting her shoulder as they jog through the forest.

"But why? You are the leader of the clan and outrank me by far." She asks.

"Like I said, I want you to experience this for yourself, I already have experience in both fighting and leadership. I want you to learn as well. Maybe the other elves will then see, what I see when I look at you." He tells her.

* * *

AN: I know, not much original stuff in this chapter but it serves as kind of a prologue, so you can look forward to some more changes to the story other the upcoming chapters, since Illidan now is traveling with Rayla and the princes. 😊


	3. Chapter 3

|The same night – In the woods surrounding the castle|

After the princes have laid down to sleep the two elves are keeping watch, not needing much sleep as elves.

"Ugh. Unbind yourself. Unbind thyself." Rayla says frustrated staring at her arm binding after having tried to bite through it to no avail while she's sitting on a stone.

"Want me to give it a try?" Illidan asks leaning against a tree, looking rather relaxed.

"Sure, why not." Rayla agrees reluctantly.

Illidan shifts into his moonshadow elf form and grabs the binding with boths clawed hands, first trying to cut through them but failing. He then tries to rip them apart with enough force to rip apart a sword.

After this also fails he looks at it curiously and channels his destructive moonshadow magic into one of his hand and tries to crush and disintegrate it but nothing works.

"What the hell? I destroyed a sunforged axe with that move once." Illidan says angrily while he grinds his teeth from concentration.

After a few more seconds he stops his attemps and releases Rayla's bindings.

"Sorry." He apologizes disappointed.

"It was worth a try." She tells him, looking at the white band with annoyance.

"I'll train some more, maybe once my magic increases I can break it." Illidan suggests.  
"I don't think that'll help but do as you wish." She tells him.

"Eitherway it was a wild day, why don't you lie down a bit and rest?" Illidan suggests.

"I though I was making the decisions on this trip?" She asks him challengingly.  
"When I think it's appropriate I'll still suggest stuff or in this case take the command. And I'm sure you remember our spars, so this is not negotiable." He tells her.

"Fine, fine. I just think this whole 'you're in command' is bull if you take over whenever it pleases you." She says lying down.

"Even if it is your mission you'd still get orders from higher ups, in this case me." Illidan tries to explain himself while in reality he's just worried about her wellbeing.

"We can discuss this tomorrow, for now sleep." Illidan tells her, taking out a cape he usually wears in his moonshadow form to hide his wings and puts It over her carefully.

Meanwhile at the Castle Viren held the Kings funeral prematurely and announced that they have to hold a coronation as soon as possible.

* * *

|morning|

When Rayla wakes up she gives Illidan his coat back and stands before Callum saying "Callum. Hey I'm talking to you, that's your name right or was it Camel?"

"It's Callum. Sorry, I was distracted drawing this primal ball." He replies.

"Primal stone." She corrects him.

"Right, it holds the pure essence of a primal spirit inside." He says.

"Primal source? You do know what the 6 primal sources are right?" She corrects him.

"Uhh if I say yes are you going to make me name them?" Callum asks, making Illidan look at him with disbelieve.

"All magic in the world comes from the primal sources. They are the original and purest forms of magical energy." She tells him, drawing the symbols of the elements into his book.

"Sun, moon, stars, earth, ocean and …" She says pointing at the relevant symbol.

"The sky." Callum says holding up his orb.

"Yes. To cast a spell a mage needs primal energy, so that wind breath spell you did. You'd usually need a storm or at least a strong breeze. But with that stone you have all the power of the sky. Anytime." She explains.

"There are two other ways for a mage to get access to the energy but it's not exactly humane." Illidan says.

"I'm guessing dark magic?" Callum asks.

"Yes, that is one of the two. Where you sacrifice one being of the relevant element and use it's life force as magic energy. The other is the reason why I can do magic." Illidan answers.

"Oh, I've been wondering about that since you showed me yesterday. I didn't know you could to more than transform at will." Rayla says interested.

"Well, as at least you know Rayla I'm the bastard son of the former Clanhead. Due to my less than noble birth the elders decided that as in many unwelcomed births they'd bathe the infant in moonshadow magic as soon as they are out of the womb. Forcing the infant to absorb its power and either accept it and become like me, even though it left some marks. Or die from the overload." Illidan explains emotionless.

"marks?" Rayla asks surprised at this information.

Illidan turns around and loses his cape, showing off his muscular backside over which's shoulders scorch marks can be seen looking black on the purple skin, making Rayla gasp while Callum looks at them interested, not knowing they come from scorching.

"I'm actually the first person to survive, other than some twins a few centuries ago." Illidan explains.

After a moment of awkward silence during which Callum gets his book back and looks at the symbols again he remembers something.

"Wait, I've seen these before. At the banther lodge. There was this little cube thing and it had these exact symbols on it. What if it's magic? We have to go get it!" Callum tells them excitedly.

"Wait what? We have real problems to worry about. Take a dragon egg to Xadia, remember?" Rayla tells him while Callum collects his stuff.

"Xadia is to the east right? So is the lodge. It's on the way." He tells her.

"Oh great. I'm sure it won't be crawling with humans, humans which are looking for you and trying to kill me. Yay." Rayla says sarcastically.

"No, it's the winter lodge. It's been empty for months. Trust me, look Rayla princes are supposed to be good at things. Sword fighting, leadership, riding horses. But I've always been kinda bad at everything. So when I tried that spell and it worked and you called me a mage that felt right. I just have the felling that cube thing can help." Callum tells her trying to convince her to go to the lodge while Ezran wakes up.

"Hey sad prince. Let's go get your cube." Rayla tells them.

"Really?" Callum asks excitedly.

"Yes, just please no more detours or heartfelt speeches." She tells them and the five of them leave their camp to head to the winter lodge.

Once Illidan walks right beside Rayla she says "I know, let me hear it. A mission is no place to be sentimental."

"This is your decision. We'll see how it pans out." He tells her lightly patting her shoulder in support, making her look at him surprised, only for him to give her a small smile.

* * *

After walking for about an hour the five reach the lodge and stop at the outer edge of the compound.

"See. No winter, no humans at the winter lodge." Callum tells her.

"Lets just make this quick. Tell me where the thing is and I'll be in and out." She says with a sigh.

Callum draws her a map and hands it to her.

"You three wait here, and the glow thingie too." Rayla tells them, taking off to the lodge and climbing in through an opened window.

"Like I said, no winter no humans right?" Callum says looking at Illidan nervously.

"Yeah but it is kinda weird there is no one here. This is where they were sending us afterall." Ezran says and they hear a horn from not far away.

"Yeah, we probably shouldn't have come here." Callum says worriedly, looking over the squad of soldiers, led by his aunt.

"Who is she?" Illidan asks looking at the raven-haired woman with interest, finding something about her interesting and appealing while he lays down to hide himself.

"My aunt." Callum says and he rushes over to greet her with his brother while Ezran hides the Egg in his backpack.

Once she reaches the two boys she gives them a hug, lifting them off the floor along with it and starts to sign something for her right hand man to translate.

"I'm so glad you're safe." He says.

"Extremely safe. Safe and alone." Callum replies.

Amaya then looks up and sees the window open and goes over to the door.

"Oh ah, that door is locked." Callum tells her, blocking her way to the main entrance.

Amaya simply kicks open the door and signs, I don't believe in locks. Entering the lodge with her nephews.

"Some one's here." Her second hand man says interpreting the signing.

"What? No one's here but us and all your HUMAN TROUPS." Callum replies.

"Callum, you know it doesn't help to yell and why are you saying human troups like that?" She signs.

"What do you mean? That is how I always say HEAVILY ARMED HUMAN TROUPS." Callum replies and Amaya continues to look around with the princes and her righthand man.

Ezran then tells her "Uhh, I skipped breakfast. I'm sorry." Distracting the woman long enough for Rayla to jump over them balancing on some beams to hide herself.

"Breakfast is the most important meal of the day." She signs and looks through a cupboard, finding some bread and hands it to them signing "The food here is weapons grade."

"Aunt Amaya why are you here?" Callum asks.

"I received a messenger bird from the King yesterday." She replies handing the message to Callum, who reads it while Ezran tries to eat some bread.

In the meantime Illidan, seeing the troups enter the building uses his transformed form to sprout his wings and fly over onto the lodges roof, where he finds and entrance which leads to the attic.

When the soldiers enter the lodge Callum and Ezran debate whether to tell Amaya about Rayla and the egg but Callum is against it.

Rayla, who was still hiding on the beams jumps over to the room where the cube is supposed to be and quickly finds it with Callum's drawing. However unnoticed by her Amaya sneaked up behind her and attacks her with her huge shield.

Rayla gets her blades and engages the woman in combat jumping at her with a slash only for it to get blocked.

Rayla goes in for a stab, only for one of her blades to be caught in the grove of the shield and thrown away.

Rayla dodges backwards, but Amaya is hot on her heels and literally crashes through a beam in the middle of the room while Rayla dodges to the side.

She then taunts Rayla, who takes the bait and jumps at the woman only to get flung across the room, courtesy of the giant shield.

Amaya then grabs the elf and pins her to a wall with the grove in the shield but before she can finish Rayla off with her sword the second in command arrives and tells her that the princes disappeared.

Amaya then knocks out Rayla instead.

When Rayla comes to a few minutes later she Is bound to a beam in another room.

"How did you do it?" Gren, her second in command translates.

"How did we do what?" Rayla asks.

"We? How many of you are there?" Amaya asks when another soldier comes in telling her " Commander Amaya, we have captured another of those Elves. He surrendered once he overheard we have the girl. He asks to speak with you."

"Do not take your eyes off her." Amaya orders to the two guards in the room as she and Gren follow the soldier to the room where Illidan is kept.

"Who are you and where are the princes." Amaya signs threateningly while Gren translates.

"The princes? Man did they get themselves lost?" Illidan says with genuine surprise.

"Stop lying and tell me where they are." She signs and crashes her fist into the wall next to him, where he's chained up.

"I'm not lying, we came with them as friends." Illidan replies, not at all bothered by the fist next to his face.

"Now, why don't we all calm down and talk this through. You seemed nice before and I don't want to have to hurt you to get my friend." Illidan says.

"You don't have anything to demand, we have both you and your friend tied up." Amaya signs while Gren translates.

"Oh you mean this?" Illidan asks rambling the steel chain against the wall before simply ripping it out with a chunk of wall hanging from it.

"I thought those were decorations." Illidan says with a cocky smirk and stops her before she reaches for her shield again.

"Ah,ah ah. Why don't you just bring me and my friend outside and tell the princes to bring us the thing, we'll be on our way then. There is no need for any blood to be spilled." Illidan tells her.

"Your people attacked our castle and you want no blood to be spilled?!" Amaya signs furiously, taking the shield into her hand.

"Alright alright. That wasn't my idea. The Dragon Queen wanted it to happen. I actually only came as an observer." Illidan says.

"Enough talk!" Amaya signs and she moves to attack with Gren when they suddenly hear a commotion happen outside, where the princes and Rayla are fleeing currently.

"You stay here and watch him." Amaya signs to Gren who nods in response while the woman rushes outside, shield at the ready.

"Step aside." Illidan warns him looking at him dangerously.

"Forget it." Gren replies but before he knows it he's dragged along in a chokehold next to Illidan's waist with his sword shattered to pieces.

"Stop right there Elf. Callum, Ezran come here." A soldier says interpreting for Amaya since Gren is missing.

"Hey, don't leave me out of this conversation." Illidan says walking out of the lodge calmly, still having Gren under one arm.

He walks past Amaya and the archers, who took aim at him, next to her and releases Gren who gives Amaya an apologetic look. The archers, seeing their ally free fire their arrows while Amaya tries to stop them but is to late due to her deafness. Illidan doesn't even turn around and catches the arrows in one hand, behind his back.

"Rayla, this is one situation where I'm taking over." Illidan tells her in an elf dialect, leaving no room for discussion.

Illidan approaches her and the princes a few more steps before he turns around and looks at Amaya expectantly and says "Let's have that talk I was asking for. I took the liberty to bring your interpreter."

"What do you want Elf." Amaya signs, looking at the elf cautiously.

"Hmm, actually the talk was because I wanted to get to know you, so I guess I want you to come with us." Illidan tells her, pointing at himself, Rayla and the princes.

"Why would we go with you elves?" Amaya asks offended.

"Not we, I meant you. Only you. If I understood Callum correctly you're his family right? And I'd hate to hurt my friends family or breaking them apart." Illidan tells her calmly.

"How do you know this and what is really your objective?" Amaya asks looking angrily.

"Ok, this is getting no where, Callum you can understand her right?" Illidan asks turning to the prince.

"Yeah." He says unsure what Illidan is trying to accomplish.

"Good." Illidan says and transforms into his moonshadow form and uses his whip magic to wrap it around every soldiers' throat other than Amaya.

"Don't worry, I won't hurt them if they stay still. I just wanted to demonstrate how easy it would be for me to do so." He says holding his hand up to the woman and releases the soldiers, ignoring Rayla's shouts of confusion behind him.

"Look, how about this. I'll give you a chance. You and me one on one, I even won't use my moon shadow magic. If I win you go with the four of us. If you win I surrender myself to you, the others still would have to go though but you'd have the next head of the moonshadow elves as your captive." Illidan offers.

"Alright, I don't have a choice." Amaya signs and gets into position.

Gren then waits until Illidan took out his two weird looking blades (normal Illidan weapons)

And counts down, once he reaches zero he lowers his hand and Amaya runs at Illidan.

"I like your ferocity." Illidan says with a wide grin as he blocks the womans rush, taking it dead on with his hand.

"But you've got to analyze the situation better, even if someone close to you is in danger." He tells her, jumping over to her and tapping his blade against her shoulder.

"What are you doing?" She signs furiously and Gren translates.

"What? I said I don't want to hurt my friends family didn't I?" Illidan replies, making Rayla slap herself on the forehead with annoyance while Amaya signs "then how do you intend to win this battle?" before rushing at him, now using her shield to stab him with it's pointed bottom.

"You'll see." He tells her and slides underneath it, knocking the feet out form under her and causing her to fall forward, leaning on her shield.

She gets right back up and tries a swipe sideways, only for Illidan to jump backwards a feet feet and then go on the offensive and dash at her, standing right in front of her suddenly due to his immense speed and look her in the eyes while she basically has one of her arms encircled around him. He gives her a sly smirk as she tries to hold him in place by squeezing both arms towards herself, only for Illidan to jump over her, while she knocks the wind out of herself with her own shield and Illidan lands behind her, putting his blades both around her neck, telling Gren to sign "give up. You and everyone here knows by know I've won."

She instead of giving up just steps forward, making Illidan rip his arms aside just in time so he only leaves a small nick on her neck.

"You are crazier than I thought." Illidan says while she turned around and jumped him, pinning him to the floor with the gap in her shield holding his neck in place.

"Who's winning now?" She signs in triumph, placing her foot on his torso.

"Hahaha, you think this'd stop me?" Illidan asks laughing and knocks out the foot Amara kept on the ground, making her fall backward and Illidan grabs the shields side in one hand, lifting it and the still on it leaning Amara off him with relative ease. He then throws it up into the air, catching it when it descended and repeats what Amara just did to him.

"How strong is this guy?" Callum asks Rayla, his and Ezran's mouths hanging open.

"Very." She replies watching him with worry as he toys around with the other woman instead of just leaving or taking her out.

"So,I think I've proven my point. It's your choice now. Come with us now or I'll knock you out and take you with us anyways." He tells her and Amara lets go of the shield, holding her hands up in surrender.

"Good. Now, I'll give you a few minutes to tell your men what to do and then we're leaving." Illidan tells her.

"How exactly do you intend to leave? Even if we leave they'll catch up in minutes." Rayla asks him demandingly.

"I know the best way, but you won't like it." Illidan says apologetic.

"What are ya talking about?" She asks worried.

"We're taking the boat." Illidan tells her, pointing at the boat behind her.

"Nooo!" She whines.

"Sorry, it's the safest way. If you want you can sleep and I'll wake you when we're back on land." Illidan offers.

Meanwhile Amara tells her troops that the princes will be safe with her, even if she has to go to an extreme to take out Illidan and to head to the castle and inform them of the development.

Gren who's got command also deploys their tracker to follow the princes at a safe distance.

* * *

Amara after instructing her troops comes over to them and gives Illidan her shield as a sign of surrender but he only shakes his head mouthing to her "It suits you better." With a wink, making the woman look at him with confusion and caution while her cheeks redden slightly.

"Let's go." Illidan says and everyone boards the boat.

"Here's what you came for." Rayla says dropping down the cube in front of the princes from her seat to the very front, with Illidan sitting in between her and the royal family.

"Oh you got it." Callum says excited and picks it up, seeing it blow blue when he holds it to their glowtoad.

"Hey Callum, you're going to teach my how to talk to your aunt." Illidan instructs the teen leaving no room for objections. Making Amaya, who can read lips look at him in surprise that he'd want to learn sign language.

"Sure." Callum says cautiously, being weary of the man in front of him due to his strength.

"Here." Illidan says, giving Amaya a patch of leaves with ointment on them and signals her to put it on the cut on her neck.

She looks at it cautiously and Illidan knowing she won't trust them easily rubs it over his hand slightly to show her that it's not dangerous.

Amaya accepts this and puts it on her cut, giving him a brief smile.

She then turns to her nephews and asks them if they are OK. The two then tell her what is actually going on but she's still weary of the elves, having constantly fought against Xadia's forces ever since her sister and the dragon King died.

Once the situation is explained and she agrees that they have to return the egg she asks Callum in sign language who Illidan is and Callum tells her what he knows.

"So, does she believe the story or does she still want to kill us and rescue you for no reason?" Illidan asks once silent conversation between the three died down.

"I believe that my nephews want to return the egg, your intentions remain yet seen." Callum interprets.

"Seriously dude, you've got to teach me how to understand that hearing it from your mouth doesn't do right by her beauty." Illidan tells Callum.

"Uhh you know that's my aunt." Callum reminds him weirded out.

"So? It's not your mother. Is she in a relationship?" Illidan asks straight forward, causing the woman to blush, having read his lips.

"I don't think so." Callum replies while Amaya looks frozen.

"What do you think you're doing? If I'm remembering correctly just two days ago you were trying to get me to marry you." Rayla asks him upset.

"I thought you didn't want to get married to me, plus the council demanded of me to take multiple wives because of my special abilities.

"So you think it's OK to hit on every woman in sight?" Rayla shouts pissed off.

"No, only those who I find amazing. You know, she's actually just like you. Fierce, loyal and kind to her people." Illidan tells Rayla, ignoring the awkward looks from the other two males on board.

"He thinks I'm amazing?" Amaya asks Callum, who nods in response.

"You understand me right?" Illidan asks her, getting a nod in return.

"Good. If you want I can train you. You're pretty good with that shield but not to versitail overall." He offers to the woman, who looks at him with disbelieve.

"I won't hurt you. I promise, otherwise I'd have done it by now don't you think." He tells her, giving her a smile.

"What makes you think you can train me, granted I lost this round but this might not happen again." Callum interprets for her.

"For the right to step us at the next clanhead I had to win over every male assassin from the moonshadow elves. And thanks to me only being the 'bastard' I had to take them all on simultaneously. Granted they only came in waves of three but logistically there was no other choice." Illidan tells them.

"Wait you what? How come I don't know this?" Rayla asks stunned.

"Because you didn't even try to get to know me before rejecting my hand in marriage." Illidan tells her, somewhere between hurt and amused.

"who won?" Callum asks looking at the elf with interest.

"Who do you think? I am the next head of the moonshadow elves afterall." Illidan replies cockily.

"how many were it?" Ezran asks curiously.

"About 800 of them. The other elves are not worriors or women." Illidan replies.

"Why didn't you have to fight women?" Rayla asks.

"Does it matter?" Illidan asks trying to avoid the subject.

"To me yes." She tells him.

"I chose to fight only the men and wait until the current head steps down because for one I'm too lazy to start leading already and secondly I didn't want to have to fight you." He tells her, leaving Rayla stunned.

"But we fight all the time." Rayla says stupefied.

"Yeah but not to the death. And trust me, I may not have liked it but some men I had to kill in order to survive." Illidan tells her, looking sad and turns to the royal family telling them, "I'm going to take a nap, if you want anything ask Rayla, she's back in command." Illidan tells them.

"Give her a chance." Illidan whispers to the elven girl before he puts his hood over his head, until it reaches onto his nose and lies down in the boat, still in between Rayla and the royals.

Amara looks at the now defenseless Illidan sleeping not even a foot away from her and looks at him thoughtfully thinking 'maybe there are some elves who aren't evil.'

AN: hope you like it, review :)


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